Multi-radio filtering front-end circuitry for transceiver systems

ABSTRACT

Devices and systems useful in concurrently receiving and transmitting Wi-Fi signals and Bluetooth signals in the same frequency band are provided. By way of example, an electronic device includes a transceiver configured to transmit data and to receive data over channels of a first wireless network and a second wireless network concurrently. The transceiver includes a plurality of filters configured to allow the transceiver to transmit the data and to receive the data in the same frequency band by reducing interference between signals of the first wireless network and the second wireless network.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.16/874,349, filed May 14, 2020, entitled “MULTI-RADIO FILTERINGFRONT-END CIRCUITRY FOR TRANSCEIVER SYSTEMS,” which is a continuation ofU.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/267,104, filed Feb. 4, 2019 andentitled “MULTI-RADIO FILTERING FRONT-END CIRCUITRY FOR TRANSCEIVERSYSTEMS,” which is a divisional of U.S. patent application Ser. No.15/189,874, filed Jun. 22, 2016 and entitled “MULTI-RADIO FILTERINGFRONT-END CIRCUITRY FOR TRANSCEIVER SYSTEMS,” each of which areincorporated herein by reference in their entireties for all purposes.

BACKGROUND

The present disclosure relates generally to transceivers of wirelesselectronic devices and, more particularly, to multi-radio filteringfront-end circuitry for the transceivers of the wireless electronicdevices.

This section is intended to introduce the reader to various aspects ofart that may be related to various aspects of the present disclosure,which are described and/or claimed below. This discussion is believed tobe helpful in providing the reader with background information tofacilitate a better understanding of the various aspects of the presentdisclosure. Accordingly, it should be understood that these statementsare to be read in this light, and not as admissions of prior art.

Transmitters and receivers, or when coupled together as part of a singleunit, transceivers, are commonly included in various electronic devices,and particularly, portable electronic devices such as, for example,phones (e.g., mobile and cellular phones, cordless phones, personalassistance devices), computers (e.g., laptops, tablet computers),internet connectivity routers (e.g., Wi-Fi routers or modems), radios,televisions, or any of various other stationary or handheld devices.Certain types of transceivers, known as wireless transceivers, may beused to generate and receive wireless signals to be transmitted and/orreceived by way of an antenna coupled to the transceiver. Specifically,the wireless transceiver is generally used to wirelessly communicatedata over a network channel or other medium (e.g., air) to and from oneor more external wireless devices.

For example, these transceivers may be included in various mobile andin-home wireless electronic devices, and particularly mobile and in-homewireless electronic devices that may support wireless applications suchas, for example, Bluetooth, Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi), ZigBee, Long TermEvolution (LTE) cellular, and so forth. Thus, the support of theaforementioned wireless applications may depend on the wirelesselectronic devices achieving excellent signal reception quality.Particularly, the signal reception quality of the wireless electronicdevice may be dependent upon the efficiency of the one or more radiofrequency (RF) filters that may be included as part of the transceiver.

Generally, the RF filters of the transceivers may pass desirablefrequencies and reject undesirable frequencies. As it may beappreciated, the number of RF filters that may be used to increasesignal reception quality may increase as the number of frequency bandsin which the wireless electronic devices support increases. Indeed, insome instances, the wireless electronic devices may be required tosupport multiple wireless applications (e.g., Bluetooth, Wi-Fi) eachoperating within the same frequency band. For example, certain homeentertainment systems may be required to support a number ofsimultaneous Bluetooth profiles, and at the same time achieve increasedWi-Fi data throughput. However, as Bluetooth and Wi-Fi applications may,in many instances, operate on the same 2.4 gigahertz (GHz) industrial,scientific, and medical (ISM) frequency band, concurrently supportingBluetooth and Wi-Fi applications may markedly degrade the data signalsdue to, for example, RF blocking and out-of-band (OOB) noise. It may beuseful to provide more robust filtering techniques to support wirelessapplications operating within the same frequency band.

SUMMARY

A summary of certain embodiments disclosed herein is set forth below. Itshould be understood that these aspects are presented merely to providethe reader with a brief summary of these certain embodiments and thatthese aspects are not intended to limit the scope of this disclosure.Indeed, this disclosure may encompass a variety of aspects that may notbe set forth below.

Various embodiments of the present disclosure may be useful inconcurrently receiving and transmitting Wi-Fi signals and Bluetoothsignals in the same frequency band. By way of example, an electronicdevice includes a transceiver configured to transmit data and to receivedata over channels of a first wireless network and a second wirelessnetwork concurrently. The transceiver includes a plurality of filtersconfigured to allow the transceiver to transmit the data and to receivethe data in the same frequency band by reducing interference betweensignals of the first wireless network and the second wireless network.

Various refinements of the features noted above may exist in relation tovarious aspects of the present disclosure. Further features may also beincorporated in these various aspects as well. These refinements andadditional features may exist individually or in any combination. Forinstance, various features discussed below in relation to one or more ofthe illustrated embodiments may be incorporated into any of theabove-described aspects of the present disclosure alone or in anycombination. The brief summary presented above is intended only tofamiliarize the reader with certain aspects and contexts of embodimentsof the present disclosure without limitation to the claimed subjectmatter.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Various aspects of this disclosure may be better understood upon readingthe following detailed description and upon reference to the drawings inwhich:

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of an electronic device including atransceiver, in accordance with an embodiment;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a notebook computer representing anembodiment of the electronic device of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a front view of a hand-held device representing anotherembodiment of the electronic device of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a front view of a desktop computer representing anotherembodiment of the electronic device of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a front view and side view of a wearable electronic devicerepresenting another embodiment of the electronic device of FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of the transceiver included within theelectronic device of FIG. 1, in accordance with an embodiment;

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of radio frequency (RF) front-endcircuitry including a number of filters included within the transceiverof FIG. 6, in accordance with an embodiment;

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of the RF front-end circuitry of FIG. 7including the number of filters and a dedicated Bluetooth antenna, inaccordance with an embodiment;

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram of the RF front-end circuitry of FIG. 7including the number of filters, the dedicated Bluetooth antenna, anddedicated Bluetooth peripheral circuitry, in accordance with anembodiment; and

FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram of RF front-end circuitry including, adedicated Bluetooth antenna and dedicated Bluetooth peripheralcircuitry, in accordance with an embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

One or more specific embodiments of the present disclosure will bedescribed below. These described embodiments are only examples of thepresently disclosed techniques. Additionally, in an effort to provide aconcise description of these embodiments, all features of an actualimplementation may not be described in the specification. It should beappreciated that in the development of any such actual implementation,as in any engineering or design project, numerousimplementation-specific decisions must be made to achieve thedevelopers' specific goals, such as compliance with system-related andbusiness-related constraints, which may vary from one implementation toanother. Moreover, it should be appreciated that such a developmenteffort might be complex and time consuming, but would nevertheless be aroutine undertaking of design, fabrication, and manufacture for those ofordinary skill having the benefit of this disclosure.

When introducing elements of various embodiments of the presentdisclosure, the articles “a,” “an,” and “the” are intended to mean thatthere are one or more of the elements. The terms “comprising,”“including,” and “having” are intended to be inclusive and mean thatthere may be additional elements other than the listed elements.Additionally, it should be understood that references to “oneembodiment” or “an embodiment” of the present disclosure are notintended to be interpreted as excluding the existence of additionalembodiments that also incorporate the recited features.

Embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to a transceiverand RF front-end circuitry of an electronic device that may be used tosupport a number of concurrent Bluetooth and Wi-Fi wireless applicationsthat may operate in the same 2.4 GHz frequency band. In certainembodiments, the RF front-end circuitry may include, for example, anumber of film bulk acoustic resonator (FBAR) filter RF filters (e.g.,13-channel FBAR filters) as part of the RF front-end circuitry that mayallow the electronic device to concurrently receive and transmit Wi-Fisignals and Bluetooth signals in the same 2.4 GHz frequency band byincreasing the number of potentially non-overlapping frequency channelsand allowing the RF filters (e.g., FBAR RF filters) to switch betweenpotentially non-overlapping frequency channels when receiving andtransmitting Wi-Fi signals and Bluetooth signals in the same 2.4 GHzfrequency band.

Specifically, the FBAR RF filters (e.g., 13-channel FBAR RF filters),for example, may be designed and configured such that channels on which2.4 GHz Bluetooth signals are received and/or transmitted may provideexcellent OOB frequency rejection of 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi signals occupying thesame or a similar frequency spaces as 2.4 GHz Bluetooth signals, andvice-versa. In this way, the transceiver, and, by extension, theelectronic device may be allowed to concurrently receive and transmitWi-Fi signals and Bluetooth signals in the same 2.4 GHz frequency bandwithout utilizing time division duplexing (TDD), which may in someinstances degrade the Wi-Fi data throughput and reduce the availableairtime for Wi-Fi data transmission and reception. In anotherembodiment, the transceiver of the electronic device may include adedicated Bluetooth antenna, and the RF front-end circuitry may includededicated additional Bluetooth circuitry. In certain embodiments, thededicated Bluetooth circuitry may be used to allow the transceiver andthe electronic device to support, for example, up to two times thenumber of Bluetooth profiles and/or peripheral devices as compared to atransceiver and electronic not including the dedicated Bluetoothcircuitry.

Still, in another embodiment, the RF front-end circuitry may not includethe number of RF filters, and instead may utilize the additionaldedicated Bluetooth circuitry to perform a coordinated multi timedivision duplexing (multi-TDD) (e.g., which may reduce circuitry areacost) to concurrently receive and transmit Wi-Fi signals and Bluetoothsignals in the same 2.4 GHz frequency band.

With the foregoing in mind, a general description of suitable electronicdevices that may employ a transceiver and RF front-end circuitry usefulin concurrently supporting Wi-Fi signals and Bluetooth applicationsoperating in the same frequency band will be provided below. Turningfirst to FIG. 1, an electronic device 10 according to an embodiment ofthe present disclosure may include, among other things, one or moreprocessor(s) 12, memory 14, nonvolatile storage 16, a display 18 inputstructures 22, an input/output (I/O) interface 24, network interfaces26, a transceiver 28, and a power source 29. The various functionalblocks shown in FIG. 1 may include hardware elements (includingcircuitry), software elements (including computer code stored on acomputer-readable medium) or a combination of both hardware and softwareelements. It should be noted that FIG. 1 is merely one example of aparticular implementation and is intended to illustrate the types ofcomponents that may be present in electronic device 10.

By way of example, the electronic device 10 may represent a blockdiagram of the notebook computer depicted in FIG. 2, the handheld devicedepicted in FIG. 3, the desktop computer depicted in FIG. 4, thewearable electronic device depicted in FIG. 5, or similar devices. Itshould be noted that the processor(s) 12 and/or other data processingcircuitry may be generally referred to herein as “data processingcircuitry.” Such data processing circuitry may be embodied wholly or inpart as software, firmware, hardware, or any combination thereof.Furthermore, the data processing circuitry may be a single containedprocessing module or may be incorporated wholly or partially within anyof the other elements within the electronic device 10.

In the electronic device 10 of FIG. 1, the processor(s) 12 and/or otherdata processing circuitry may be operably coupled with the memory 14 andthe nonvolatile memory 16 to perform various algorithms. Such programsor instructions executed by the processor(s) 12 may be stored in anysuitable article of manufacture that includes one or more tangible,computer-readable media at least collectively storing the instructionsor routines, such as the memory 14 and the nonvolatile storage 16. Thememory 14 and the nonvolatile storage 16 may include any suitablearticles of manufacture for storing data and executable instructions,such as random-access memory, read-only memory, rewritable flash memory,hard drives, and optical discs. Also, programs (e.g., an operatingsystem) encoded on such a computer program product may also includeinstructions that may be executed by the processor(s) 12 to enable theelectronic device 10 to provide various functionalities.

In certain embodiments, the display 18 may be a liquid crystal display(LCD), which may allow users to view images generated on the electronicdevice 10. In some embodiments, the display 18 may include a touchscreen, which may allow users to interact with a user interface of theelectronic device 10. Furthermore, it should be appreciated that, insome embodiments, the display 18 may include one or more organic lightemitting diode (OLED) displays, or some combination of LCD panels andOLED panels.

The input structures 22 of the electronic device 10 may enable a user tointeract with the electronic device 10 (e.g., pressing a button toincrease or decrease a volume level). The I/O interface 24 may enableelectronic device 10 to interface with various other electronic devices,as may the network interfaces 26. The network interfaces 26 may include,for example, interfaces for a personal area network (PAN), such as aBluetooth network, for a local area network (LAN) or wireless local areanetwork (WLAN), such as an 802.11x Wi-Fi network, and/or for a wide areanetwork (WAN), such as a 3^(rd) generation (3G) cellular network, 4^(th)generation (4G) cellular network, or long term evolution (LTE) cellularnetwork. The network interface 26 may also include interfaces for, forexample, broadband fixed wireless access networks (WiMAX), mobilebroadband Wireless networks (mobile WiMAX), asynchronous digitalsubscriber lines (e.g., ADSL, VDSL), digital videobroadcasting-terrestrial (DVB-T) and its extension DVB Handheld (DVB-H),ultra Wideband (UWB), alternating current (AC) power lines, and soforth.

In certain embodiments, to allow the electronic device 10 to communicateover the aforementioned wireless networks (e.g., Wi-Fi, WiMAX, mobileWiMAX, 4G, LTE, and so forth), the electronic device 10 may include atransceiver 28. The transceiver 28 may include any circuitry the may beuseful in both wirelessly receiving and wirelessly transmitting signals(e.g., data signals). Indeed, in some embodiments, as will be furtherappreciated, the transceiver 28 may include a transmitter and a receivercombined into a single unit, or, in other embodiments, the transceiver28 may include a transmitter separate from the receiver. For example, asnoted above, the transceiver 28 may transmit and receive OFDM signals(e.g., OFDM data symbols) to support data communication in wirelessapplications such as, for example, PAN networks (e.g., Bluetooth), WLANnetworks (e.g., 802.11x Wi-Fi), WAN networks (e.g., 3G, 4G, and LTEcellular networks), WiMAX networks, mobile WiMAX networks, ADSL and VDSLnetworks, DVB-T and DVB-H networks, UWB networks, and so forth. Asfurther illustrated, the electronic device 10 may include a power source29. The power source 29 may include any suitable source of power, suchas a rechargeable lithium polymer (Li-poly) battery and/or analternating current (AC) power converter.

In certain embodiments, the electronic device 10 may take the form of acomputer, a portable electronic device, a wearable electronic device, orother type of electronic device. Such computers may include computersthat are generally portable (such as laptop, notebook, and tabletcomputers) as well as computers that are generally used in one place(such as conventional desktop computers, workstations and/or servers).In certain embodiments, the electronic device 10 in the form of acomputer may be a model of a MacBook®, MacBook® Pro, MacBook Air®,iMac®, Mac® mini, or Mac Pro® available from Apple Inc. By way ofexample, the electronic device 10, taking the form of a notebookcomputer 30A, is illustrated in FIG. 2 in accordance with one embodimentof the present disclosure. The depicted computer 30A may include ahousing or enclosure 32, a display 18, input structures 22, and ports ofan I/O interface 24. In one embodiment, the input structures 22 (such asa keyboard and/or touchpad) may be used to interact with the computer30A, such as to start, control, or operate a GUI or applications runningon computer 30A. For example, a keyboard and/or touchpad may allow auser to navigate a user interface or application interface displayed ondisplay 18.

FIG. 3 depicts a front view of a handheld device 30B, which representsone embodiment of the electronic device 10. The handheld device 30B mayrepresent, for example, a portable phone, a media player, a personaldata organizer, a handheld game platform, or any combination of suchdevices. By way of example, the handheld device 30B may be atablet-sized embodiment of the electronic device 10, which may be, forexample, a model of an iPad® available from Apple Inc. of Cupertino,Calif.

The handheld device 30B may include an enclosure 36 to protect interiorcomponents from physical damage and to shield them from electromagneticinterference. The enclosure 36 may surround the display 18, which maydisplay indicator icons 39. The indicator icons 39 may indicate, amongother things, a cellular signal strength, Bluetooth connection, and/orbattery life. The I/O interfaces 24 may open through the enclosure 36and may include, for example, an I/O port for a hard wired connectionfor charging and/or content manipulation using a standard connector andprotocol, such as the Lightning connector provided by Apple Inc., auniversal serial bus (USB), or other similar connector and protocol.

User input structures 22, in combination with the display 18, may allowa user to control the handheld device 30B. For example, the inputstructures 22 may activate or deactivate the handheld device 30B, theinput structures 22 may navigate user interface to a home screen, auser-configurable application screen, and/or activate avoice-recognition feature of the handheld device 30B, the inputstructures 22 may provide volume control, or may toggle between vibrateand ring modes. The input structures 22 may also include a microphonemay obtain a user's voice for various voice-related features, and aspeaker may enable audio playback and/or certain phone capabilities. Theinput structures 22 may also include a headphone input may provide aconnection to external speakers and/or headphones.

Turning to FIG. 4, a computer 30C may represent another embodiment ofthe electronic device 10 of FIG. 1. The computer 30C may be anycomputer, such as a desktop computer, a server, or a notebook computer,but may also be a standalone media player or video gaming machine. Byway of example, the computer 30C may be an iMac®, a MacBook®, or othersimilar device by Apple Inc. It should be noted that the computer 30Cmay also represent a personal computer (PC) by another manufacturer. Asimilar enclosure 36 may be provided to protect and enclose internalcomponents of the computer 30C such as the dual-layer display 18. Incertain embodiments, a user of the computer 30C may interact with thecomputer 30C using various peripheral input devices, such as thekeyboard 22A or mouse 22B, which may connect to the computer 30C via awired and/or wireless I/O interface.

Similarly, FIG. 5 depicts a wearable electronic device 30D representinganother embodiment of the electronic device 10 of FIG. 1 that may beconfigured to operate using the techniques described herein. By way ofexample, the wearable electronic device 30D, which may include inputstructures 42 and a wristband 43, may be an Apple Watch® by Apple Inc.However, in other embodiments, the wearable electronic device 30D mayinclude any wearable electronic device such as, for example, a wearableexercise monitoring device (e.g., pedometer, accelerometer, heart ratemonitor), or other device by another manufacturer. The display 18 of thewearable electronic device 30D may include a touch screen (e.g., LCD,OLED display, active-matrix organic light emitting diode (AMOLED)display, and so forth), which may allow users to interact with a userinterface of the wearable electronic device 30D. In addition, the inputstructures 42, which may correspond to the input structure 22 describedabove, may allow the users to interact with the user interface of thewearable electronic device 30D, as well.

Although not illustrated, it should be appreciated that, in otherembodiments, the electronic device 10 may also include a digital mediaplayer and entertainment console that may be used to receive digitalvideo data from any number of sources and stream the digital video datavia a television (TV). For example, in one or more embodiments, theelectronic device 10 may be an Apple TV® console available from AppleInc.

In certain embodiments, as previously noted above, each embodiment(e.g., notebook computer 30A, handheld device 30B, computer 30C, andwearable electronic device 30D) of the electronic device 10 may includea transceiver 28, which may include RF front-end circuitry including anumber of RF filters that may be used to support a number of concurrentBluetooth and Wi-Fi wireless applications.

With the foregoing in mind, FIG. 6 depicts a schematic diagram of thetransceiver 28. As illustrated, the transceiver 28 may include atransmitter 44 (e.g., transmitter path) and a receiver 46 (e.g.,receiver path) coupled as part of a single unit. As depicted, thetransmitter 44 may receive a signal 45 that may be initially modulatedvia a coordinate rotation digital computer (CORDIC) 48 that may, in someembodiments, be used to process individual Cartesian represented datasymbols (e.g., OFDM symbols) into polar amplitude and phase components.In some embodiments, the CORDIC 48 may include a digital signalprocessor (DSP) or other processor architecture that may be used toprocess the incoming signal 45. In some embodiments, the CORDIC 48 mayalso communicate with a processor 50 (e.g., on-board processor) that maybe used to process transmitted and/or received WLAN (e.g., Wi-Fi),cellular (e.g., LTE) signals, and/or a number of short-rangecommunication signals (e.g., Bluetooth) signals.

In certain embodiments, during operation, the transmitter 44 may receivea Cartesian coordinate represented signal 45, which may include, forexample, data symbols encoded according to orthogonal I/Q vectors. Thus,when an I/Q signal is converted into an electromagnetic wave (e.g.,radio frequency (RF) signal, microwave signal, millimeter wave signal),the conversion is generally linear as the I/Q may be frequencyband-limited. The I/Q signals 45 may be then respectively passed to highpass filters (HPFs) 51 and 52, which may be provided to pass the highfrequency components of the I/Q signals 45 and filter out the lowfrequency components. As further illustrated, the I/Q signals 45 may bethen respectively passed to mixers 54 and 56, which may be used to mix(e.g., multiply or upconvert) the in-phase (I) component and thequadrature (Q) component of the I/Q signals 45.

In certain embodiments, as further illustrated in FIG. 6, a transmitterphase lock loop (PLL-TX) or oscillator 58 may be provided to generate90° out of phase oscillation signals by which to mix the orthogonalin-phase (I) component and the quadrature (Q) component to generate acarrier frequency and/or radio frequency (RF) signal. The in-phase (I)component and the quadrature (Q) component signals may be thenrecombined via a summer 62, and then passed to a power amplifier (PA) 64to amplify the summed signal, and to generate an electromagnetic signal(e.g., RF signal, microwave signal, millimeter wave signal) to beprovided to antennas 66, 67, and 68 (e.g., multiple input multipleoutput [MIMO] antennas) for transmission. In some embodiments, theantennas 66, 67, and 68 may be included on the same integrated chip asthe transceiver 28 architecture. However, in other embodiments, theantennas 66, 67, and 68 may be fabricated as part of a separate chipand/or circuitry that may be coupled to the other circuitry components(e.g., amplifier 64) of the transceiver 28.

In certain embodiments, as previously noted, the transmitter 44 may becoupled together with the receiver 46. Thus, as illustrated, thetransceiver 28 may further include a transmitter/receiver (T/R) switch69 or other circulator device, which may be useful in routing signals tobe transmitted from the transmitter 44 (e.g., transmitter path) to theantennas 66, 67, and 68 and routing signals received via the antennas66, 67, and 68 to the receiver 46 (e.g., receiver path). In certainembodiments, the processor 50 in conjunction with an RF front-endcircuitry 70 of the transceiver 28 may be used, for example, to supporta number of concurrent Bluetooth and Wi-Fi wireless applications.Indeed, in certain embodiments, as will be further appreciated withrespected to FIGS. 7-10, the RF front-end circuitry 70 including, forexample, a number of RF filters may be used to support a number ofconcurrent Bluetooth and Wi-Fi wireless applications that may operate inthe same ISM 2.4 GHz frequency band.

As further depicted in FIG. 6, during operation, the receiver 46 mayreceive RF signals (e.g., LTE and/or Wi-Fi signals) detected by theantennas 66, 67, and 68. For example, as illustrated in FIG. 6, receivedsignals may be received by the receiver 46. The received signals may bethen passed to a mixer 71 (e.g., downconverter) to mix (e.g., multiply)the received signals with an IF signal (e.g., 10-20 megahertz (MHz)signal) provided by a receiver phase lock loop (PLL-RX) or oscillator72.

In certain embodiments, as further illustrated in FIG. 6, the IF signalmay be then passed to a low-pass filter 73, and then mixer 76 that maybe used to mix (e.g., downconvert a second time) with a lower IF signalgenerated by an oscillator 78 (e.g., numerically controlled oscillator).The oscillator 78 may include any oscillator device that may be usefulin generating an analog or discrete-time and/or frequency domain (e.g.,digital domain) representation of a carrier frequency signal. The IFsignal may be then passed to the processor 50 to be processed andanalyzed.

Turning now to FIG. 7, a detailed illustration of the RF front-endcircuitry 70 is depicted. As depicted, the RF front-end circuitry 70 mayinclude a processor 80 electrically coupled to a number of RF filters82, 84, 86, and 88. In some embodiments, the processor 80 may include abaseband processor (BBP) or any of various devices that may be used tomanage the radio processing and functions (e.g., Bluetooth and Wi-Fisignals received from, and provided to the antennas 66, 67, and 68) ofthe transceiver 28. In some embodiments, the processor 80 may include anumber of cores (e.g., 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz frequency band cores) 90 (e.g.,“Core0”), 92 (e.g., “Core1”), 94 (e.g., “Core2”), and 96 (e.g., “1×1”)for receiving and transmitting signal inputs and outputs from and to theRF filters 82, 84, and 86. As further depicted, the processor 80 mayinclude a Bluetooth peripheral core 98 (e.g., “BT TXRAX”) for receivingand transmitting signal inputs and outputs from and to the RF filter 88and to one or more peripheral Bluetooth devices that may becommunicatively coupled to the electronic device 10 via the transceiver28. As illustrated, the RF filter 88 may, in one embodiment, be coupledto the antenna 67. However, in other embodiments, the RF filter 88 mayinstead be coupled to the antenna 68 or to the antenna 66.

In certain embodiments, the RF filters 82, 84, 86, and 88 may includeany of various devices that may be useful in allowing desiredfrequencies to pass, for example, from the antennas 66, 67, and 68 tothe processor 80, and disallowing undesired frequencies from passingfrom the antennas 66, 67, and 68 to the processor 80. For example, incertain embodiments, the RF filters 82, 84, 86, and 88 may each includea film bulk acoustic resonator (FBAR) filter (e.g., free-standingmembrane filter) that may be particularly useful for performingfrequency band selection and coexistence (e.g., concurrent operation)between, for example, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi applications. While thepresent techniques may be primarily discussed with respect to FBARfilter embodiments of the RF filters 82, 84, 86, and 88, it should beappreciated that, in other embodiments, the RF filters 82, 84, 86, and88 may include, for example, solidly mounted resonator (SMR) filters,surface acoustic wave (SAW) filters, bulk acoustic wave (BAW), or any ofvarious other RF filter technologies that may be efficient in supportingconcurrent Bluetooth and Wi-Fi applications.

Specifically, in certain embodiments, while receiving, the RF filters82, 84, 86, and 88 may be used to detect signals within a specifiedfrequency band or channel while reducing and/or substantiallyeliminating interference from frequencies outside of the specifiedfrequency band (e.g., RF blocking). While transmitting, the RF filters82, 84, 86, and 88 may be used to transmit signals within a specifiedfrequency band or channel while reducing and/or substantiallyeliminating out-of-band (00B) (e.g., difference between the minimalsignal level of the pass frequency band and the maximum signal level inthe rejection frequency band) emissions before transmitting the signalsvia the antennas 66, 67, and 68. Indeed, by including the RF filters 82,84, 86, and 88 (e.g., FBAR RF filters) as part of the RF front-endcircuitry 70, the transceiver 28 may be allowed to concurrently receiveand transmit Wi-Fi signals and Bluetooth signals in the same 2.4 GHzfrequency band without utilizing time division duplexing (TDD), whichmay in some instances degrade the Wi-Fi data throughput and reduce theavailable airtime for Wi-Fi data transmission and reception.

For example, in certain embodiments, the antennas 66, 67, and 68 maytransmit and receive Wi-Fi signals from and to, for example, a Wi-Firouter or other Wi-Fi “hotspot” in which the electronic device 10 may becommunicatively coupled to via the transceiver 28 and the antennas 66,67, and 68. At substantially the same time, the antennas 66, 67, and 68may also transmit and/or receive Bluetooth signals to and from, forexample, any number of various Bluetooth peripheral devices such as, forexample, video game consoles and/or controllers, wireless speakers,wireless headphones, automobiles, drone devices, and/or or otherelectronic devices that may be part of an in-home network (e.g., meshnetworking) and operating in the substantially the same frequency band(e.g., 2.4 GHz frequency band).

In some embodiments, the RF filters 82, 84, and 86 may be used primarilyto filter transmitted and received Wi-Fi signals, while the RF filter 88may be used primarily to filter transmitted and received Bluetoothsignals. As illustrated, in the present embodiment, the RF filter 88 andthe RF filter 84 may be each coupled to the antenna 67, and may beisolated via a T/R switch 106A. For example, during operation, Wi-Fiand/or Bluetooth signals detected upon the antennas 66, 67, and 68 or tobe transmitted via the antennas 66, 67, and 68 may be passed throughlow-pass/high-pass filters 100, 102, and 104 to filter out undesirablefrequency harmonics.

As depicted, the RF filters may, in some embodiments, include, forexample, up to 13 separate frequency channels on which Wi-Fi and/orBluetooth signals may be transmitted and/or received. As previouslydiscussed, received Wi-Fi and/or Bluetooth signals may be passed by theRF filters 82, 84, 86, and 88 in a specific frequency band whilereducing interference from other frequency bands (e.g. RF blocking), andthe RF filters 82, 84, 86, and 88 may reduce OOB frequency emissionsbefore transmitting the Wi-Fi and/or Bluetooth signals. For example, incertain embodiments, the Bluetooth and Wi-Fi signals may collectivelyoccupy a portion of the available 2.4 GHz frequency band that mayinclude an 83 MHz bandwidth.

In certain embodiments, the Bluetooth signals may be allowed to “hop”(e.g., heuristically switch) between 79 different 1 MHz bandwidthchannels in the available 2.4 GHz frequency band. On the other hand, theWi-Fi signals may be centered on a single channel that may include a 22MHz bandwidth. Indeed, when the Bluetooth signals and Wi-Fi signals areoperating along the same or a very proximate frequency channel, thesingle 22 MHz bandwidth on which the Wi-Fi signals occupy may overlap,for example, the same frequency as 22 channels of the 1 MHz bandwidth 79Bluetooth frequency channels. Thus, in certain embodiments, by providingthe 13-channel RF filters 82, 84, 86, and 88 (e.g., FBAR RF filters) aspart of the RF front-end circuitry 70, the transceiver 28 may be allowedto concurrently receive and transmit Wi-Fi signals and Bluetooth signalsin the same 2.4 GHz frequency band by increasing the number ofpotentially non-overlapping frequency channels and allowing the RFfilters 82, 84, 86, and 88 (e.g., FBAR RF filters) to switch betweenpotentially non-overlapping frequency channels when receiving andtransmitting Bluetooth signals and Wi-Fi signals in the same 2.4 GHzfrequency band.

For example, in certain embodiments, the RF filters 82, 84, and 86(e.g., FBAR RF filters) may allow the transceiver 28 to receive and/ortransmit Wi-Fi signals via channel 1 (e.g., “CH 1”) of the respective RFfilters 82, 84, and 86 (e.g., FBAR RF filters). In such a case, channel1 (e.g., “CH 1”) of the respective RF filters 82, 84, and 86 mayinclude, for example, a 22 MHz bandwidth. Particularly, while receivingWi-Fi signals in the 2.4 GHz frequency band, the antennas 66, 67, and 68may respectively pass 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi signals to low-pass/high-passfilters 100, 102, and 104 and over a 22 MHz-wide frequency channel(e.g., channel “CH 1”) of the respective RF filters 82, 84, and 86. The2.4 GHz Wi-Fi signals may be then passed from the respective RF filters82, 84, and 86 through respective T/R switches 106C, 106E, and 106G,through respective low noise amplifiers (LNAs) 110B, 110D, 110F, throughbandpass filters 112, and finally to the respective cores 90, 92, and 94of the processor 80.

Similarly, while transmitting Wi-Fi signals in the 2.4 GHz frequencyband, the respective cores 90, 92, and 94 of the processor 80 mayrespectively pass 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi signals to bandpass filters 112 throughrespective LNAs 110A, 110C, and 110E and over the same 22 MHz-widefrequency channel (e.g., channel “CH 1”) of the respective RF filters82, 84, and 86. The 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi signals may be then transmitted viathe antennas 66, 67, and 68.

In certain embodiments, the RF filters 82, 84, and 86 (e.g., FBAR RFfilters) may allow the transceiver 28 to receive and/or transmit 2.4 GHzBluetooth signals via other available channels (e.g., “CH 2-CH13”) ofthe respective RF filters 82, 84, and 86 (e.g., FBAR RF filters). Forexample, in some embodiments, the RF filters 82, 84, and 86 (e.g., FBARRF filters) may allow 2.4 GHz Bluetooth signals to pass through, forexample, channel 3 (e.g., “CH 3”), channel 8 (e.g., “CH 8”), and channel13 (e.g., “CH 13”), or, for example, on channel 2 (e.g., “CH 2”),channel 7 (e.g., “CH 7”) and channel 12 (e.g., “CH 12”). Similarly, theRF filter 88 (e.g., FBAR RF filter) may be dedicated to only Bluetoothsignals, and may thus allow the transceiver 28 to receive and/ortransmit 2.4 GHz Bluetooth signals via any of the available channels(e.g., “CH 1-CH13”) of the RF filter 88. As further depicted in FIG. 7,received 2.4 GHz Bluetooth signals may be passed from the RF filter 88through T/R switches 106L and 106M to the Bluetooth peripheral core 98(e.g., “BT TXRAX”) of the processor 80. Likewise, the transmission pathfrom the Bluetooth peripheral core 98 (e.g., “BT TXRAX”) to the RFfilter 88 may include a path through a bandpass filter 112 and an LNA108G (e.g., 5 GHz LNA) to the RF filter 88.

As previously discussed, by providing the 13-channel RF filters 82, 84,86, and 88 (e.g., FBAR RF filters) as part of the RF front-end circuitry70, the transceiver 28 may be allowed to concurrently receive andtransmit Wi-Fi signals and Bluetooth signals in the same 2.4 GHzfrequency band by increasing the number of potentially non-overlappingfrequency channels and allowing the RF filters 82, 84, 86, and 88 toswitch between potentially non-overlapping frequency channels receivedand transmitted Wi-Fi signals and Bluetooth signals in the same 2.4 GHzfrequency band. Specifically, the 13-channel RF filters 82, 84, 86, and88 (e.g., FBAR RF filters) of the RF front-end circuitry 70 may bedesigned and configured such that channels on which 2.4 GHz Bluetoothsignals are received and/or transmitted may provide excellent OOBfrequency rejection of 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi signals occupying the same or asimilar frequency spaces as 2.4 GHz Bluetooth signals, and vice-versa.In this way, the transceiver 28 may be allowed to concurrently receiveand transmit Wi-Fi signals and Bluetooth signals in the same 2.4 GHzfrequency band without utilizing TDD, which may in some instancesdegrade Wi-Fi data throughput and reduce the available airtime for Wi-Fidata transmission and reception.

Turning now to FIG. 8, which illustrates an embodiment of the RFfront-end circuitry 70 including not only the dedicated RF filter 88(e.g., FBAR filter), but also a dedicated Bluetooth antenna 114.Particularly, the dedicated Bluetooth antenna 114 may include anadditional MIMO antenna (e.g., in addition to the MIMO antennas 66, 67,and 68) that may be used to receive and/or transmit Bluetooth signals,exclusively. For example, the dedicated Bluetooth antenna 114 may beused to communicatively couple the electronic device 10 to, for example,Bluetooth peripheral devices such as, for example, video game consolesand/or controllers, wireless speakers, wireless headphones, automobiles,drone devices, and/or or other electronic devices that may be part of anin-home network. That is, in the present embodiment, the dedicatedBluetooth antenna 114 may support specific Bluetooth profiles andapplications, while the antennas 66, 67, and 68 may be used to supportWi-Fi applications. Specifically, by providing the additional dedicatedBluetooth antenna 114, increased isolation may be achieved between thereceived and/or transmitted Bluetooth and Wi-Fi signals and therebyfurther supporting the concurrent reception and transmission of Wi-Fisignals and Bluetooth signals in the same 2.4 GHz frequency band.

FIG. 9 illustrates an embodiment of the RF front-end circuitry 70including the dedicated RF filter 88 (e.g., FBAR filter), the dedicatedBluetooth antenna 114, and additional dedicated Bluetooth circuitry 116.In certain embodiments, the additional dedicated Bluetooth circuitry116, which may include a Bluetooth specific device 118 (e.g., processorcore), may be used to allow the transceiver 28, and, by extension, theelectronic device 10, to concurrently support, for example, up to 2times the number of Bluetooth profiles and/or peripheral devices ascompared to a transceiver 28 not including additional dedicatedBluetooth circuitry 116. For example, in some embodiments, by includingthe additional dedicated Bluetooth circuitry 116 as part of the RFfront-end circuitry 70, the transceiver 28 may be able to concurrentlysupport up to, for example, a total of 14 Bluetooth peripheral devices.

As illustrated, Bluetooth signals received and/or transmitted by theadditional dedicated Bluetooth circuitry 116 may be combined or splitvia combiner circuitry 120 (e.g., electronic adder) with Bluetoothsignals received and/or transmitted by the Bluetooth core 98 (e.g., “BTTXRAX”) of the processor 80. In some embodiments, in addition tocombining (e.g., adding) the respective outputs of the Bluetooth core 98(e.g., “BT TXRAX”) and the dedicated Bluetooth circuitry 116, thecombiner circuitry 120 may be used to provide a separation in frequency(e.g., frequency isolation) between the Bluetooth core 98 (e.g., “BTTXRAX”) and the Bluetooth specific device 118 (e.g., processor core) ofthe additional dedicated Bluetooth circuitry 116 to prevent interferencebetween the various Bluetooth profile signals.

In other embodiments, the additional dedicated Bluetooth circuitry 116may facilitate the use of TDD to concurrently receive and transmit Wi-Fisignals and Bluetooth signals in the same 2.4 GHz frequency band. Forexample, FIG. 10 illustrates an embodiment of the RF front-end circuitry70 that does not include the RF filters 82, 84, 86, and 88, and insteadutilizes the additional dedicated Bluetooth circuitry 116 toconcurrently receive and transmit Wi-Fi signals and Bluetooth signals inthe same 2.4 GHz frequency band. Specifically, in the presentembodiment, the additional Bluetooth circuitry 116 of the RF front-endcircuitry 70 may allow the transceiver 28 to perform a coordinated multitime division duplexing (multi-TDD) without including the RF filters 82,84, 86, and 88 (e.g., which may reduce circuitry area cost).

For example, in the present embodiment, the antennas 66, 67, and 68 maybe reserved for receiving and transmitting Wi-Fi signals (e.g.,separated into timeslots) while the dedicated Bluetooth antenna 114 maybe reserved for receiving and transmitting Bluetooth signals. Asdiscussed above with respect to FIG. 9, the additional dedicatedBluetooth circuitry 116 may allow the transceiver 28, and, by extension,the electronic device 10, to concurrently support, for example, up to 2times the number of Bluetooth profiles and/or peripheral devices ascompared to a transceiver 28 not including additional dedicatedBluetooth circuitry 116. In one embodiment, the Bluetooth core 98 (e.g.,“BT TXRAX”) and the dedicated Bluetooth circuitry 116 may share the sametime slot (e.g., by allowing frequency hopping between the Bluetoothcore 98 and the dedicated Bluetooth circuitry 116), while the receivedand/or transmitted Wi-Fi signals may be separated into differenttimeslots. In this way, the additional Bluetooth circuitry 116 mayfacilitate the use of TDD to concurrently receive and transmit Wi-Fisignals and Bluetooth signals in the same 2.4 GHz frequency band (e.g.,without the added area cost of the RF filters 82, 84, 86, and 88).

The specific embodiments described above have been shown by way ofexample, and it should be understood that these embodiments may besusceptible to various modifications and alternative forms. It should befurther understood that the claims are not intended to be limited to theparticular forms disclosed, but rather to cover all modifications,equivalents, and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope ofthis disclosure.

The techniques presented and claimed herein are referenced and appliedto material objects and concrete examples of a practical nature thatdemonstrably improve the present technical field and, as such, are notabstract, intangible or purely theoretical. Further, if any claimsappended to the end of this specification contain one or more elementsdesignated as “means for [perform]ing [a function] . . . ” or “step for[perform]ing [a function] . . . ”, it is intended that such elements areto be interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f). However, for any claimscontaining elements designated in any other manner, it is intended thatsuch elements are not to be interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f).

What is claimed is:
 1. An electronic device, comprising: a transceiverconfigured to transmit and receive signals concurrently over channels ofa first wireless network and a second wireless network via a pluralityof antennas; a plurality of filters configured to allow the transceiverto transmit and receive the signals in the same frequency band byreducing interference between signals of the first wireless network andthe second wireless network; and a processor communicatively coupled tothe transceiver and configured to receive a set of signals fortransmission via the first wireless network, identify a subset of theplurality of antennas for use with the first wireless network, andtransmit the set of signals via the subset of the plurality of antennasusing the first wireless network.
 2. The electronic device of claim 1,wherein the plurality of filters comprises: a first subset of theplurality of filters configured to filter the set of signals of thefirst wireless network, and a second subset of the plurality of filtersconfigured to filter an additional set of signals of the second wirelessnetwork.
 3. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the first wirelessnetwork comprises a Bluetooth wireless network.
 4. The electronic deviceof claim 1, wherein the first wireless network comprises a WirelessFidelity (Wi-Fi) wireless network.
 5. The electronic device of claim 1,comprising an additional processor configured to electrically couple toan additional subset of the plurality of antennas, wherein theadditional subset of the plurality of antennas is configured to transmitan additional set of signals via the second wireless network.
 6. Theelectronic device of claim 5, wherein the second wireless networkcomprises a Bluetooth wireless network.
 7. The electronic device ofclaim 5, wherein the processor and the additional processor areconfigured to transmit the set of signals and the additional set ofsignals, respectively, in a frequency band during a timeslot using amulti-time division duplexing (multi-TDD) technique.
 8. The electronicdevice of claim 1, wherein at least one of the plurality of filterscomprises a film bulk acoustic resonator (FBAR) filter.
 9. A wirelesscommunication system, comprising: a first antenna operable on a firstwireless network; a second antenna operable on a second wirelessnetwork; a first radio frequency (RF) filter communicatively coupled tothe first antenna and configured to filter a first set of interferenceproperties with respect to the second wireless network signals; a secondRF filter communicatively coupled to the second antenna and configuredto filter a second set of interference properties with respect to thesecond wireless network signals; and a processor configured to: receivea first set of data signals via the first RF filter, wherein the firstantenna is configured to receive first wireless network signals, andreceive a second set of data signals via the second RF filterconcurrently with the first set of data signals via the first RF filter,wherein the second antenna is configured to receive second wirelessnetwork signals, wherein the first RF filter and the second RF filterare configured to concurrently filter the first set of interferenceproperties and the second set of interference properties, respectively.10. The system of claim 9, wherein the first wireless network signalscorrespond to Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi) signals and the second wirelessnetwork signals correspond to Bluetooth signals.
 11. The system of claim9, wherein the first wireless network signals and the second wirelessnetwork signals are received in a first frequency band.
 12. The systemof claim 11, wherein the first frequency band comprises a 2.4 gigahertz(GHz) frequency band.
 13. The system of claim 9, wherein the processoris configured to receive and transmit the first wireless network signalssubstantially simultaneously while receiving and transmitting the secondwireless network signals in accordance to a multi-time divisionduplexing (multi-TDD) technique.
 14. The system of claim 9, wherein thefirst and second antennas comprise multiple input multiple output (MIMO)antennas.
 15. A method, comprising: receiving, via a transceiver, afirst set of signals via a first radio frequency (RF) filter coupled toa first antenna of a plurality of antennas, wherein the first antenna isconfigured to receive first wireless network signals; and receiving, viathe transceiver, a second set of signals via a second RF filter coupledto a second antenna of the plurality of antennas concurrently with thefirst set of signals via the first RF filter, wherein the second antennais configured to receive second wireless network signals; wherein thefirst RF filter is configured to filter a first set of interferenceproperties with respect to the second wireless network signals, andwherein the second RF filter is configured to filter a second set ofinterference properties with respect to the second wireless networksignals.
 16. The method of claim 15, comprising receiving andtransmitting the first wireless network signals while receiving andtransmitting the second wireless network signals in accordance to amulti-time division duplexing (multi-TDD) technique.
 17. The method ofclaim 15, wherein the first RF filter and the second RF filter areconfigured to concurrently filter the first set of interferenceproperties and the second set of interference properties, respectively.18. The method of claim 15, wherein the first wireless network signalscomprise Bluetooth signals.
 19. The method of claim 15, wherein thefirst wireless network signals comprise Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi)signals.
 20. The method of claim 15, wherein at least one of the firstRF filter and the second RF filter comprises a film bulk acousticresonator (FBAR) filter.